A staggering intellectual history

Unusually original and groundbreaking ... Ibram X Kendi's brilliant book ... has disturbed some readers because of the author's fearless reappraisal of the words, actions and philosophies of some of the more revered heroes of American abolitionism and civil rights -- including African American heroes ... Kendi remains awake to nuance and complexity [yet] this is not a historian fearful of upsetting orthodoxies or questioning fixed reputations. He goes where the evidence takes him, which is not to where we or we might want it to go ... a compelling if discomfiting thesis ... persuasive and powerful

Absorbing… This is a powerful, thought-provoking book that features a dizzying array of characters, deftly navigates complex intellectual terrain and draws on a wealth of evidence

A deep (and often disturbing) chronicling of how anti-black thinking has entrenched itself in the fabric of American society

Upends many commonly held beliefs about how racism works

Engrossing ... ruthless

You should read it for its arguments about what racism is, even if in the end you are not obliged to agree with all of them. Nor should you dodge it on the basis that you knew all this already -- like me, you almost certainly didn't ... It is remarkable how economic interest spawned a semi-millennium's worth of cod theorising, pseudo-science and vulgar abuse masquerading as fact

Stamped from the Beginning provides a lucid, accessible survey of how “the people” were racialised over 500 years… Kendi confidently re-evaluates the writings of many celebrated abolitionists and African-American heroes and concludes that racism often underpinned their strategies… Kendi’s most important insight might help rethink anti-racist activism… Stamped from the Beginning is an unyielding narrative of racist ideas, violence and harm

I can’t say whether Ibram X Kendi’s Stamped from the Beginning will offend most white people (though I’m willing to bet it will offend some), but he damn sure names white supremacy for what it is… His research is exhaustive and his conclusions will surprise many

It is to Goodwin's credit that she teases out the variety and peculiarities among the four presidents . . . she renders her characters with a depth and intricacy that not all academic historians seek to attain. We can only hope that a few of Goodwin's many readers will find in her subjects' examples a margin of inspiration

A timely study of what makes a great President . . . Few are better placed to explain the current vacuum, and predict what might fill it, than Doris Kearns Goodwin. The 75-year-old swam with Lyndon Johnson at his ranch, worked with Steven Spielberg on Lincoln and dined with Barack Obama at the White House. It is not, as the title implies, an opportunistic entry into the ever-expanding Trump canon. She began work on it five years ago . . . She considers what lessons they offer for transformational crisis management, turnaround and visionary leadership, but sugars the pill with telling details and funny anecdotes

Pulitzer- and Carnegie Medal-winning historian Goodwin draws on 50 years of scholarship in this strong and resonant addition to the literature of the presidency . . . extremely relevant

Remarkable ... comprehensive, human, and engaging, clearly the results of long study.

An inspiring guide to the very best of human endeavour - a book filled with well-told stories and lessons

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin demonstrates how leaders are made, not born, as she thoughtfully explores the highs and lows of four U.S. presidents who faced moments of horrific national crisis. Goodwin's clean, assured sentences set the stage as each future president discovers within himself the desire to enter politics, the calamitous blows that knocked each one down, and how they tackled the struggles that tore at the sinews of the country. Most fascinating is Goodwin's revelations about how very differently Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Lyndon B. Johnson approached not only their political careers but how they developed the character traits that helped them see-or make-a path toward a critical response that many others disagreed with. Lincoln's delivery of the Emancipation Proclamation, Theodore Roosevelt's handling of labor strikes, FDR's battle against the Great Depression in his first 100 days, and Johnson's prioritization of civil rights while a nation mourned were actions that could have ripped the country further apart but eventually bound it together and strengthened its democratic foundations. The rare weakness within Leadership: In Turbulent Times is the outlining of specific qualities, such as "Take the measure of the man" and "Set a deadline and drive full-bore to meet it," that are meant to distill leadership wisdom into bullet points, like contemporary business books. Goodwin's strength is in the rich context she provides as she shows that great leaders develop in dissimilar ways but ultimately have a vision they reach for and rely on when times are at their most turbulent.

Leadership should help us raise our expectations of our national leaders, our country and ourselves

She writes easily and attractively; the reader is carried along effortlessly with the narrative sweep of her prose . . . engrossing . . . it is impossible not to admire the skill with which Goodwin tells four absolutely riveting stories

She is the most fluent, most wide-ranging of modern presidential chroniclers . . . compelling. There is much in Leadership that offers lessons, even consolations that apply universally. Kearns Goodwin shows they offer lessons that can be embraced by the businessman, the aspiring politician and the striving individual

Riveting . . . Goodwin appraises in illuminating detail

Full of life and colour

A fabulously engrossing, exciting narrative in the grand old style ... overflowing with colour and character

A great work of history… A great biography… Caro has summoned Lyndon Johnson to vivid, intimate life

The fourth volume of one of the most anticipated English-language biographies of the past 30 years... A compelling narrative...that will thrill those who care about American politics, the foundations of power, or both

Political biography of the highest quality… An unmatched psychological portrait of Johnson as John F. Kennedy’s assassination catapults him into the presidency

Robert Caro’s biography of Lyndon Johnson is said to be on William Hague, George Osborne and Jeremy Hunt’s summer reading list

This book shows the mastery of Johnson in politics, and also the mastery of Caro in biography

A great and occasionally astonishing biography

One of the greatest biographies in the history of American letters

The latest in what is almost without question the greatest political biography in modern times… Nobody goes deeper, works harder or produces more penetrating insights than [Caro]

A major event in biography, history, even publishing itself… Caro has once more combined prodigious research and a literary gift to mount a stage for his Shakespearean figures: LBJ, JFK, LBJ’s nemesis Robert F. Kennedy

A masterly how-to manual, showing Johnson’s knowledge of governing, his peerless congressional maneuvering and effective deal-making. The Years of Lyndon Johnson is a compact library: brilliant biography, gripping history, searing political drama and an incomparable study of power. It’s also a great read… And, after thousands of pages spent with Lyndon Johnson, one of Caro’s singular achievements is that you want more

Brilliant… Riveting reading from beginning to end… The real tour de force in this stunning mix of political and psychological analysis comes in the account of the transition between administrations, from November 23 1963 to January 8, 1964… An utterly fascinating character study, brimming with delicious insider stories… Political wonks, of course, will dive into this book with unbridled passion, but its focus on a larger-than-life, flawed but fascinating individual – the kind of character who drives epic fiction – should extend its reach much, much further. Unquestionably, one of the truly big books of the year

The series’ crowning volume

This pile-driving book has all the ingredients of a great drama, the humiliating childhood breeding a lifelong desire (to be president), the failure (to gain the Democratic nomination), the humiliation (almost constant, by JF Kennedy) the sudden change of fate (the assassination), and the vindication (when Johnson drives through key bills that Kennedy couldn’t, and proves himself the most astute of politicians). Totally compelling

It is an extraordinary story of a deeply flawed character, told with such verve, such command of the facts, and such an understanding of power

A major work of history and biography

The fourth installation of Caro’s masterwork came out this year and, cheeringly, there is no slackening of plot or pace

It is a profound portrait of two men, Johnson and John F. Kennedy, and the relationship between them

A fascinating story, Shakespearean in its passion and fury, as well as darkly comical

This pile-driving book has all the ingredients of a great drama, the humiliating childhood breeding a lifelong desire (to be president), the failure (to gain the Democratic nomination), the humiliation (almost constant, by J. F. Kennedy) the sudden change of fate (the assassination), and the vindication (when Johnson drives through key bills that Kennedy couldn’t, and proves himself the most astute of politicians). Totally compelling

The fourth volume of Caro’s magisterial work spans the five years that end shortly after Kennedy’s assassination, as Johnson prepares to push for a civil rights

A meticulous dissection of political and economic structures in the US… a riveting read by one of the modern masters of historical writing